top of page

Reiterating the Vertical Urban Factory

José Gonçalves
Lisbon

© José Gonçalves

THESIS DETAILS:

Thesis by José Gonçalves

The decentralization of the industrial city, brought about by the humanitarian and sociological crisis in urban centers at the end of the 18th century, solidified the hegemonic roles that industry and infrastructure currently play in urban expansion, albeit incompatibly with urban life. This “removal of process” from cities (Rappaport 2014) compelled us to design industry away from cities instead of adapting industry to them.

Although this crisis was resolved, nowadays with the incessant cultural and ludic densification of river-front areas in cities worldwide - and the aforementioned peripheralization of industry from these locations - there have been tensions between these newfound uses and irreplaceable industry, still in use.

In the oriental edge of Lisbon there is a silage terminal – The Beato Silage Terminal, that by managing more that 20% of all grain that the country consumes, is an irreplaceable element in Lisbon’s port.

This irreplaceable industry, in the face of Beato’s newfound creative development as well as Lisbon’s riverfront massive urban projects creates a new architectural stranglehold.

Given this clash of forces, could this infrastructure be integrated into Beato's urbanity, instead of being removed or completely separated from the city? Could it simultaneously be, as an hybrid building, adapted to meet the needs of the Beato region as the new creative hub of Lisbon?